tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-70217674875688084472024-03-16T02:10:04.911+01:00Millefeuillesmillefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.comBlogger115125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-37395519021307943812015-12-19T22:13:00.000+01:002015-12-19T22:27:41.934+01:00Movement and Change<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Dear readers,</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In his book, <i>Colour and Culture, practice and meaning from antiquity to abstraction</i>, John Gage brings to light that the Greek words for purple seem to have had a double connotation of movement and of change. This could be accounted for, he explains, both by the many colour changes involved in the dyeing process and by how its lustre reflected back the light of the universe lifting this colour somewhere between the secular and the sacred (p.25).</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">These past months have been, and continue to be, a period of movement and of change for my children and I. The transformation we are enduring is perhaps not visible but certainly it is deep and strong and holds the potential for beauty and lustre too. Pain makes us grow, does it not? Tristan's music, Héloïse's love of theatre and my need to create bring us moments of shared joy, as do our wonderful friends, of course. I have been beavering away at mice, rabbits and kittens for Christmas markets and orders and feel excited about facing new creative challenges and projects in the new year.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I am holding onto this blog by the skin of my teeth; confidence in my voice is lacking and I feel almost embarrassed about how unoriginal I have become but whilst I write these awkward words I am chuckling at myself. I have faith that time will bring clarity to myself and to Héloïse, Tristan and Angélique. In the meantime I admire my children for striving forth every day and remaining full of integrity.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I am so sorry this post is a meagre one but I simply wanted to reach out to you all. 2015 has been a horrendous year in so many ways but when I look back the good that has come out of the past twelve months by far outweighs the pain. I hope you all have the peace and joy you deserve over Christmas and I look forward to sharing the new, hopeful year with you. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The Ravelry notes for this purple shawl, made for a dear friend a few weeks ago, are <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/mustardseed-2" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Stephanie x</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com62tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-46308963033028397112015-10-04T13:10:00.001+02:002015-10-04T16:30:36.710+02:00Ochre<div align="center">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Pablo Picasso</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Victoria Finlay, <i>Colour</i>, (Hodder and Stoughton, 2002) p. 224</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">We've had a reprieve from the brusque onset of autumn this past week with chilly mornings giving way to bright sunshine and warmth; a last chance to soak up the lazy memories of our hot summer and to gear up for what is ahead. This year, for the first time in a long, long time, I am most happy to welcome autumn. I do not wish to make this post about my troubles but I have known for a while that one day in autumn would bring me solace and more peace of mind and that thought has served to embellish this season which so many of you embrace.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Yellow, or more specifically ochre, is always at the forefront of my mind when summer fades into autumn and I wish to paint yellow spots everywhere in the hope that they become, perhaps not suns as such, but poignant moments of joy for the children and I. We all know that yellow has long-standing connotations of jealousy, illness and ageing but the gold of autumn days can be mellow and rich. I see drowsy bumblebees, thick pollen, honey and the more seasonal apples and pears which feed my imagination of the golden fruits which pepper fairy tales. Their taste conjures up the sweet smell of beehives, honeycomb and the fragrance of flowers mixed in with a pear-drop of acid-flavoured green.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Autumn also calls to my mind Jean-Baptiste De La Quintinie </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">(1624 - 88)</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">, the gardener who tended the Sun King's <i>potager </i>and orchards. A man far removed from the frivolities enjoyed by the royal </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">family and courtiers staged in the gardens and palace of Versailles, an alleged introvert who sought solace amongst the espaliered pear and apple trees which he dedicated his life to. "<i>The eyes find so much to rejoice in that one's mind does not want for more distraction"</i>, wrote De La Quintinie in his thousand-page gardening handbook. We cannot argue with his love of pears, apples and fruit in general nor can we dispute his evocative written description of their intense colours and rich assortment of textures and tastes.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The pictures above are of my version of Carrie Bostick Hoge's simple and most lovely pattern <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/louise-light" target="_blank">Louise Light</a> and details of my two most recent hares both of which bear a touch of ochre too.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Many of you will already know that dear <a href="http://www.anniecholewa.com/p/reading.html" target="_blank">Annie Cholewa</a> is hosting a readalong of <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Green-Gown-Arnolfini-Portrait/dp/0099526891" target="_blank">Girl In A Green Gown: The History And Mystery Of The Arnolfini Portrait.</a> I am savouring this book and would urge you gently to join in with Annie. Finally if you are interested in reading a little more about Louis XIV's gardener you can find an article which I wrote for <a href="http://www.hortus.co.uk/" target="_blank">Hortus Magazine</a> in winter 2008.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Warmest wishes to you all for a mellow October. I'm hoping that I will be returning more frequently here if any of you are still around? :-)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie x</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com51tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-87415674838209884902015-08-08T00:45:00.000+02:002015-08-08T09:19:40.344+02:00Silence<div align="center">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Dear friends,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">For those of you who remember me please do not doubt that you are in my thoughts. All I have to offer you today are a few imperfect pictures and a lot of heartfelt gratitude for your support here and kind emails. My silence is heavy with meaning but will be shortlived. I may have lost my voice a little but I know it will return. There will be more photographs, creations and words in the future</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">. In the meantime I hope you are savouring August and feeling content and at peace. </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">This year may have gifted me more wrinkles (oh dear) but it has bestowed me with more strength than I could imagine.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I leave you with my latest hand knits:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Alana Dakos's <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/pressed-leaves" target="_blank">Pressed Leaves Beret</a> - a fabulous pattern full of intricate cables which truly kept me on my knitter's toes - and one of my all time favourite patterns by Dani Sunshine called <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/bella-4" target="_blank">Bella.</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And just look at Angélique's face! Such a source of joy and love.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie x</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com56tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-50330340946194870762015-05-31T09:07:00.000+02:002015-06-02T21:06:44.044+02:00Blue<div align="center">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Dear readers,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Outside my window I see out-of-reach cherries glistening red and a flurry of bird wing beneath ample foliage. The cuckoo is making its presence known most audibly but after six springs in this house I am aware that as June rolls in the horse chestnuts trees will cease to ring with its rhythmic song. The </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">month of May has been about strawberries - marinated in sugar and Balsamic vinegar and relished with a hearty dollop of vanilla-infused Mascarpone - fresh peas, artichokes, asparagus and fennel. It has also been about adapting to our family's new configuration now that my husband has fled the nest. I expected a rollercoaster of heightened emotions but instead I have found collective serenity to be the norm. Thank Goodness. Quiet happiness fills my days together with the long list of to-dos, fat files of paperwork and frequent scrambles to run errands. There are orange-tinged roses from our garden on our table, guitar music and a lot outdoor play and reading. And there is laughter. Again, thank goodness. If I look ahead I could become overwhelmed by the financial uncertainty which clouds my horizon (I'm tightening my belt until a judge compels my husband to provide for his children) but instead I see mostly blue skies and hope.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Blues have become increasingly precious to me during this family upheaval. Héloïse asked for a patchwork tunic, in the same style as her <a href="http://sbmillefeuilles.blogspot.fr/2014/10/my-marrakech-patchwork-around-world.html" target="_blank">little sister's,</a> for her nineteenth birthday and it had to be in blue and off-white with a touch of mauve. As I snipped and stitched I saw an array of Delft tiles dancing before my eyes as the squares and rows came together (<a href="http://www.alicecaroline.co.uk/product/liberty-tana-lawn-fabric-tea-time-blue-white/" target="_blank">this</a> Liberty fabric was possibly my favourite). I used a firm favourite for Héloïse and Angélique - <a href="http://www.citronille.fr/produit.php?id_produit=54" target="_blank">Suzanne </a>by the French designer Citronille which exists for girls and women and is available both in French and English.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I subscribed to <a href="http://www.selvedge.org/shop/64-ageless" target="_blank">Selvedge Magazine</a> for 2015 (a Christmas present from my parents) and have been delighted by its thematic approach, rich diversity in the domain of textiles and its undeniable quality. Lastly, I started reading Jessie Burton's first novel, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Miniaturist-Jessie-Burton/dp/1447250931/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=" target="_blank">The Miniaturist,</a> set in seventeenth-century Amsterdam, on my mother's recommendation. She had been enthralled by its opening chapters but disappointed by the ending and I confess I tore through the pages, my curiosity piqued by her opinion of the closing pages, wondering what I would find there. If you too have read it I would love to hear what you think of it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I'm so happy to be slowly resurfacing into a happier world and will fortunately be able to visit your blogs with enthusiasm once again. Hurrah!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie x</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com68tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-47320137738771530692015-04-29T14:58:00.000+02:002015-04-29T21:50:56.485+02:00Fairy Queen<div align="center">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Fairy:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Over hill, over dale,</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Thorough bush, thorough brier, </span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Over park, over pale,</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Thorough flood, thorough fire, </span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I do wander every where,</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Swifter than the moone's sphere;</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And I serve the fairy queen,</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">To dew her orbs upon the green:</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The cowslips tall her pensioners be;</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">In their gold coats spots you see;</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Those be rubies, fairy favours,</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">In their freckles live their savours:</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I must go seek some dew-drops here,</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Farewell, thou lob of spirits: I'll be gone:</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Our queen and all her elves come here anon.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><em>A Midsummer-Night's Dream </em>(2.1.2-17)</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I never cease to marvel at the human ability to seek out and create beauty during traumatic times. This bridal shawl, strung with around four hundred glistening glass beads, became an emotional life raft for me over April as malevolence took root in my home and I found myself hurtling down a rabbit hole into an eerie <em>Alice In Wonderland </em>world where nothing felt as it should. And however much I felt the panic rising within me I was determined to savour the pleasures of April. I observed the prettiness of wild primroses, violets and cowslips together with the cheeriness of cultivated tulips but, just as the first coffee of the morning had lost its flavour, I just could not <em>feel </em>them. C</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">ome the month of May, however, I will be given a new lease of life. Once my husband leaves our home there will be fewer lies, threats and less manipulation. I will be in the constant company of my three precious children. I have the gift of a new life ahead and I feel so very blessed.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Shawl: <a href="http://i%20realise%20that%20i%20will%20be%20happier%20and%20more%20serene%20now%20that%20my%20husband%20is%20leaving.%20once%20he%20has%20gone%20there%20will%20be%20fewer%20lies,%20threats%20and%20less%20manipulation.%20i%20will%20be%20in%20the%20constant%20company%20of%20my%20three%20precious%20children.%20i%20have%20the%20gift%20of%20a%20new%20life%20ahead%20and%20i%20feel%20so%20very%20blessed./" target="_blank">Mustardseed</a> by Boo Knits</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Yarn: Quince and Co.'s wispy, silky, laceweight <a href="http://quinceandco.com/products/piper-yarn-merino-mohair" target="_blank">Piper</a> in the Longhorn colourway.</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Model: a most patient Héloïse.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I cannot even begin to show my gratitude to you all for your kindness and supportive comments these past weeks. Your wise words and virtual hugs have made an unbearable situation almost bearable. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie x</span> </div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com55tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-43673237051379381192015-04-19T10:52:00.000+02:002015-04-19T10:52:40.918+02:00Venetian<div align="center">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Dear friends,</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">There will be few words again today. The betrayal, malevolence and contempt I have been subjected to in my home since the early weeks of this year have made creative thinking almost impossible for the time being. I hesitated before putting those words down but I know my situation, however painful and frightening, is sadly a common one. True friends and family -and perhaps too an inner strength - have saved me from floundering and have reminded me on an almost daily basis that there is light at the end of this long, dark tunnel. I have trained myself to focus solely on love, light and goodness and to turn away from all demeaning thoughts and to remain steadfast in my relationship with those I hold most dear. </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">There will be release from this intensely stressful time at the end of this month although I realise other challenges lie ahead. Whilst I am a sensitive and anxious woman I also remain a fighter.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I took the pictures below of Héloïse (who turns nineteen at the end of April) a few weeks ago under a steady drizzle. We chose this beautiful, rich colourway, Venetian, by Madelinetosh for her latest pullover; a pattern by Tin Can Knits called <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/prairie-fire-2" target="_blank">Prairie Fire</a>: some of you might remember <a href="http://sbmillefeuilles.blogspot.fr/2014/12/flowers-and-leaves.html" target="_blank">this version</a> I made for Angélique last autumn? I look back on the hour spent here with her under the rain, surrounded by damp, blossoming trees with a quiet sense of joy and gratitude. Héloïse has been a steadfast source of kindness throughout these times. The least she deserves is a handknit pullover!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And here is Héloïse in her very first minor television role in a French series most fittingly cast as an angel!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Warmest wishes to you all. I hope your spring is both peaceful and enjoyable.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie x</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com83tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-77022366744079491372015-03-13T20:25:00.000+01:002015-03-13T21:17:52.275+01:00Upheaval<br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Dear friends,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The past two months since my last post have been so very, very difficult. I am in the midst of an upheaval which is bound to bring about some changes. I will not put my thoughts into words here as I wish, above all else, to protect those I love and respect. It is quite simply not solely my story to tell. However despite the challenges I face I marvel at this opportunity to learn and grow. And, despite the pain I face, I am determined to choose colour over darkness and smile...most of the time.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I will be back soon, dear friends, I promise, with a cheerier and slightly longer post. In the meantime if you have any advice for getting through uncertain times I would love to hear from you.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The pictures above are of a kitten named Miss Tea Rose and a springtime <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/vintage-bouquet-4" target="_blank">Vintage Bouquet</a> by <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/designers/dani-sunshine" target="_blank">Dani Sunshine</a> (my fourth).</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com85tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-23714213704696851432015-01-21T18:08:00.000+01:002015-01-26T08:06:20.117+01:00A Gentle Giant<div align="center">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">It is believed that every cloud has a silver lining. Whilst reeling from the unspeakable horrors which unfolded in Paris on January 8th and beyond, I stumbled my way through my humdrum existence hoping to hear, somewhere, a few snatched words of wisdom which could cut through the inexplicable cruelty wreaked by a handful of lost souls upon others. Many conversations were shared; with friends and family, of course, with the butcher, plumber and neighbour but I did not realise that I would finally find solace in the words of a giant born nearly five hundred years ago.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The wildly obscene humour of</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"> <em>Pantagruel </em>(1532), written by our local Renaissance author, François Rabelais, has been dramatised recently by the French stage designer and Renaissance and Baroque specialist, Benjamin Lazar. A meeting with gracious Lazar, the formidable and hugely warmhearted actor Olivier Martin-Salvan, who was born to take on the role of the friendly giant Pantagruel, and the two musicians involved in the production, was arranged one evening last week. As I sat beside my daughter Héloïse, surrounded by a small group of <em>Pantagruel </em>enthusiasts who were uplifted by the show they had just enjoyed, with my notebook and pen in hand, I put my weariness of recent events to one side and devoured the words, in true Pantagruel style, of these four creative men.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And then there was the performance on the following night, a selection of extracts from Rabelais' voluminous <em>Pantagruel</em>. We marvelled at the actor's formidable memory - lengthy monologues in five early European languages left us speechless with wonder and hilarity was born from the scene where Pantagruel, hungry for knowledge, devours book upon book in a Parisian Library with startling effects, at times, on his digestion. The language of Rabelais, both obscene and flowery, can best be described as earthy poetry, I believe. It must not be forgotten that this formidable Renaissance writer, first monk, then physician, was intoxicated by the sudden availability of all manner of books so shortly after the first printing press had seen the light. The stage director, who usually inhabits a theatrical world where candles are the only form of light, chose this time to play with electricity in an obscure world where a giant roams the earth. It was Lazar's intention to connect Rabalais' universe with our own. Playing with electric light cast a human-sized actor into the shape of a giant, helium-filled jelly-fish balloons bobbed on the waves of a stormy sea and sixteenth-century instruments mostly played contemporary music in a most convincing manner.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Hilarity and wonder aside, it was in the words of a tolerant, magnanimous (and very hairy) <a href="http://www.lyonne.fr/yonne/actualite/2014/05/29/olivier-martin-salvan-quelque-chose-de-fort-se-passe-dans-la-culture_11022752.html" target="_blank">giant</a> clad in an animal skin, who continuously practises the art of unflinching gentleness, that I finally found my silver lining. As Pantagruel recited the formal and elaborate letter received from his Humanist father advising him on his education, the following words rang out:</span></div>
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<em><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Wisdom enters not into a malicious mind, and [...] knowledge without conscience is but the ruin of the soul.[...] Be servicable to all thy neighbours, and love them as thyself.</span></em></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And there it was. Lazar and Martin-Salvan had succeeded in bridging the gap of five centuries. If Pantagruel's father urges him to learn the languages and wisdom of all races he also advises him to remain kind and altruistic. As I walked out of the theatre I realised that little had changed in the grand scheme of things but thanks to François Rabelais and a handful of creative souls my faith had been restored in humanity.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">If you are interested in reading about Rabelais and his world, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rabelais-His-World-M-Bakhtin/dp/0253203414/ref=pd_sim_b_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0D8QRNWDFWF1S5065K7H" target="_blank">this book</a> is enlightening and an excellent read whereas <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gargantua-Pantagruel-Classics-Francois-Rabelais/dp/0140445501/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1421831638&sr=1-1&keywords=pantagruel+rabelais" target="_blank">this translation</a> of <em>Pantagruel</em>, I believe, is a good one.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">All pictures below reveal my manner this month of softening the blow of events in Paris and beyond, and demonstrate, perhaps, my ability to bury my head in the sand.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">1. The pink stole is my <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/autumn-leaves-stole" target="_blank">second version</a></span> <span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">of Jared Flood's <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/autumn-leaves-stole" target="_blank">Autumn Leaves Stole.</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">2. My first bunch of hyacinths. They have flowered exquisitely and smell divine.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">3. Green the colour of hope, renewal and harmony (batik fabric from <a href="http://www.alewivesfabrics.com/" target="_blank">Alewives Fabrics</a>). </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">4. An angel mouse named Charlotte in honour of Charlie Hebdo. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">5. <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/puck" target="_blank">Puck</a>, a dear hat pattern by Dani Sunshine. This one looks like Confetti Cake. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">6. Finally, <span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Hope, a mouse who represents the promise of spring and new beginnings.</span></span> </div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Hope is looking for a home, dear friends; would one of you be kind enough to take her in? She is<span data-reactid=".4.0.1.0.1.0.0.1.0.0.0:0.1.2:1.$text0:0:$end:0"> a sweet harbinger of peace and spring. A little green sprite poised on a green moss seat bearing snowdrops in her handbag. Soon these delicate green and white flowers will bloom in shady places like forgotten patches of snow, piercing through the unforgiving ground with their pointed leaves and slender stems. Such is the magic of the natural world. If you would like to take a closer look you will find her <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/218986051/angel-hope?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I wish you all well and hope the last few days of January bring you happiness...and a few snowdrops, perhaps.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">THANK YOU so very, very much for your wonderful comments, both short and long, you take the time to write which both touch and inspire me. Three cheers for this blogging community! :-)</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie x</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com45tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-35232469159855971172015-01-01T21:55:00.002+01:002015-01-02T00:07:38.075+01:00All That Glistens<div align="center">
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Today everything turned to silver. Under the clear, bright sky fragile frost crystals scattered light in all directions and although the name 'hoar', from Old English, calls to mind white haired and advanced age it seemed as though, on this first day of the year, the world sparkled with fierce newness like a wilderness of stars in a moonlit sky. It was our third visit to Chenonceau and the interior of the Château, all a-quiver, rivalled with its frozen, fairytale gardens where box trees stood sentinel and hardy violet pansies shuddered in their cold flowerbeds. Inside, juxtaposed against the more muted colours of the glorious collection of Renaissance tapestries and paintings, were frosted evergreen branches, towering Christmas trees, clashes of gold and red jostling with silver and white. Ornamental snowy owls, hedgehogs, squirrels and glitter-coated birds raised an inquisitive eye to the sea of upturned faces and winked at the smiles of delight and wonder. "This tree is simply perfect for children", murmured a lady, her face shining. "And that is why it is surrounded by adults; look!", I laughed. Though some of the decorations seemed a trifle gaudy the dazzling show of white and green hyacinths carried hope through the air. 'Happy New Years' rang through the Château's forecourt and gallery as everyone's breath turned white.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">So, dear friends, I will not be including a brief history of this exquisite <a href="http://www.chenonceau.com/index.php/en/le-chateau" target="_blank">château</a>, embellished and protected by a fistful of remarkable women since 1513, - not this time, at least - but will turn to each of you with a glad heart and wish you a very peaceful, joyful and prosperous New Year. May 2015 be full of light, hope and a sprinkling of magic. There is something about the number 2015 which pleases me...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And below, of course, a spot of frosty knitting. <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/autumn-leaves-stole" target="_blank">Wintery Leaves</a> glazed with ice; a delightfully addictive pattern by Jared Flood knit with five skeins of <a href="https://brooklyntweed.com/shop/shelter/" target="_blank">Brooklyn Tweed Shelter</a> in the Snowbound colourway. Completed in time for the winter solstice and sent, late, as a Christmas present to a special friend.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Happy New Year!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #999999; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie x</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-61600265764083209062014-12-18T08:49:00.002+01:002014-12-18T21:12:25.303+01:00Sugar Plum<div align="center">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Dear friends,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The hours of daylight are at their shortest as we approach the winter solstice and again, as with each passing year, I find that <em>"carpe diem</em>" and "wonder" become two faces of the same thought. The children and I feed off each others' desire for enchantment and, in our own rough and ready way, we cultivate delight with true hearts and giddy minds. I observe them from the corner of my eye endlessly drawing, colouring, cutting and see that their need to embellish the everyday humdrum mirrors my own. It's a time for giving and I have lost count of how many handmade cards Angélique has gifted her fellow classmates. On complimenting Angélique's <em>maternelle </em>teacher on her impressive array of sparkly pullovers this week, she retorted that the short and often grey December days begged light in any shape or form, even in a handful of glitter. She is right, of course, but in my mind the bleak weather makes little difference and, when the mornings are frosty and the late-rising sun bright, I watch the pinks, mauves and grey of the winter sky unfold behind the intricate shadow puppet trees and imagine frost-flowers, silently unfolding before me on the windowpanes. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I also love the day dawning in heavy freezing fog when the garden seems to float and everything turns to silver. I'm almost disappointed when the swirling mists clear and daylight invades once more but I leave the Christmas tree's twinkling lights on and recall the colourful candles poised heavily on my childhood tree waiting to come alive with the strike of a match. The children and I are praying for snow. We crave the peace and silence it grants. I'm knitting a stole with a yarn named <a href="https://brooklyntweed.com/shop/loft/" target="_blank">Snowbound</a> in the hope that the températures will drop and our world will be white once more. The yarn refects the exact grey of a heavy winter sky.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I have knit another hat; a second <a href="http://sbmillefeuilles.blogspot.fr/2014/01/the-spring-gatherer.html" target="_blank">Rosewater</a> by Tin Can Knits, this time with Madelinetosh's Sugar Plum colourway. If many of us remain unsure of the original definition for 'sugar plum' it has with time crystallised into the definition of the excitement and childlike wonder of Christmas. In the 1600s, as 'sugar plum' passed into general usage, it came to have its own assoiated meanings quite apart from fruit. If your mouth was full of sugar plums, it meant that you spoke sweet, and possibly deceitful, words. If you stuffed another's mouth with sugar plums, that meant a sop or bribe which served to shut someone up. The Oxford English Dictionary also spells out that throughout the centuries 'plum' came to mean something desirable. Surely, that is what this precious period of Advent spells out too? Children's desire mingled with the hope of adults accompanied by a resounding refrain of 'Peace on Earth and Goodwill to all Men'.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">All the pictures of Paris above are taken from our old and very beautiful neighbourhood; la <em>Galérie Vivienne</em> in central Paris. The picture below, fellow knitters and teashop enthusiasts, is the one and only <em>L'Oisive Thé</em>, situated in the 13th arrondissement in Paris, which I finally set foot in for the first time fortnight ago. Vibrant, cheery, stuffed with fabulous yarn, books and teas, suffice to say I have been dreaming of this street corner of inspiration ever since. Aimée, the American/French owner holds the most amazing workshops on a regular basis. I have watched, over on <a href="http://instagram.com/loisivethe" target="_blank">Instagram</a>, with fascination the visits of designers Gudrun Johnston and Stephen West unfold and plan to be part of the fun in 2015. Go take a look; it will bring a smile to your faces. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I have also included two hares - Miss Hyacinth and Edmund Elf - as there have been a lot of hares being created behind the scenes in preparation for Christmas. My notes for my Sugar Plum hat may be found <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/rosewater-2" target="_blank">here.</a> Mickaël kept laughing at me whilst he took the pictures above as it appeared I was praying to the baubles. I see his point!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I wonder what you are hoping for during this last week before Christmas?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">A bientôt,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-39462211048671187042014-12-06T08:33:00.001+01:002014-12-06T09:43:33.487+01:00Prelude To Winter<div align="center">
<em><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The Hirschwald is an enchanted place on such an evening, when the mists lie low on the turf, and overhead the delicate, bare branches of the silver birches stand out clear against the soft sky, while the little moon looks down kindly on the damp November world. Where the trees thicken into a wood, the fragrance of the wet earth and rotting leaves kicked up by the horses' hoofs fills my soul with delight. I particularly love that smell, - it brings before me the entire benevolence of Nature, for ever working death and decay, so piteous in themselves, into the means of fresh life and glory, and sending up sweet odours as she works.</span></em><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Elizabeth von Arnim, <em>Elizabeth And Her German Garden </em>(Virago Press: London, 1985), pp. 82-83 </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">This is a short post, dear friends, for this morning I am catching the train for Paris to spend time with my family and to visit for the first time the best tea and knitting shop in the capital; <a href="http://www.loisivethe.com/" target="_blank">L'OisiveThé.</a> I have shared the above extract from Elizabeth von Arnim's first novel with you as I think it is important to remember, as autumn slips into winter and spring is too far away to comfort even by anticipation, that the decay which surrounds us is simply a necessary prelude to rebirth and greenery. In winter enjoying nature can require more effort but it is important - for our sanity - to see things from a different perspective even if that may mean finding beauty in death. Fortunately there are enchanted tales to spin during those long evenings and Christmas to prepare for! </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Before bowing graciously to the muted shades of winter with festive snatches of green and red I leave you with a few last glimpses of late autumn splendour caught on the final day of November beneath a giant ginko tree with dancing-skirt shaped leaves twirling gracefully to the yellow ground.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Angélique is wearing her new Tin Can Knits <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/prairie-fire" target="_blank">Prairie Fire</a> short-sleeved pullover in the Madelinetosh colourway Molly Ringwald</span>. <br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And I, below, am loving my <a href="http://www.fairysteps.co.uk/" target="_blank">Fairysteps</a> Mary Jane shoes!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Warmest wishes to you all! Let us all enjoy Advent as those December days slip away so quickly, wouldn't you agree?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie x</span><br />
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-67425968308620669432014-11-22T18:44:00.001+01:002014-11-22T19:17:58.171+01:00The Firebird<div align="center">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Ahh, that last picture above is just so true to form!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Dear friends,</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Despite the fact that night has fallen I hear a blackbird singing in the bedraggled cherry tree outside my window with such virtuosity its song carries hope through the air. Today is my birthday - forty six already - and one of the most precious gifts has been the dazzling sunlight glimmering through golden leaves from sunrise to sunset. It is an odd sensation, as autumn lapses gently into winter, to realise that the huge molten giant overhead burns as brightly and yet, because of the slight tilt of the Earth, when its rays strike at a shallow angle its touch is less fiery.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I usually settle into this season with contentment; what choice do I have? Being a homebird I start dreaming of book-lined shelves and crackling fires, and I am happy. And then I leave our house - several times a day - and sigh in delight at the regal apparel the trees bear for just a few days more. Each yellow leaf, twirling downwards turns to molten gold for a few seconds before sinking to the finite ground.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The other day I took Tristan and Angélique to the bookshop. Whilst they sat, book in hand, my sharp eye glanced around the displays and shelves and in a few seconds I had found, and grabbed, a treasure: my favourite French Illustrator, Charlotte Gastaut's, latest book, <a href="http://www.amazon.fr/Loiseau-feu-Igor-Stravinsky/dp/2368560505/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416675827&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=charlotte+gastaud+feu" target="_blank">L'Oiseau de Feu</a>, hot off the press. A talented Illustrator gifts the reader a series of stage designs; the magic of a theatre show without leaving one's home. This version of Igor Stravinsky's work, written for the 1910 Paris season of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company, contains the ingredients of a fairy tale; an enchanted garden in which a tree bearing golden apples grows, a wicked sorcerer, a bevy of beautiful girls and a golden bird. When I leaf through its pages I see bright ornaments, evergreen branches, a clash of colour with a touch of surrealism. Charlotte Gastaut's distinctively Russian themed illustrations are as rich in colour as a cathedral's stained-glass windows and the <em>découpage </em>heightens the similarity with stage settings.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And today I wore for the first time my new handknitted hat; a beautiful, new pattern by Joji Locatelli fittingly named <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lantern-lights" target="_blank">Lantern Lights</a>. I loved the idea of being crowned with tiny shining latterns to guide me through the chilly, dark evenings and that is why I picked a skein of Madelinetosh Merino DK in the glowing Candlewick colourway from my yarn stash.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">My Raverly notes for my Firebird hat are <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/lantern-lights" target="_blank">here.</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">For those who would like to listen to Stravinsky's <em>The Firebird </em>I have had in my possession for a number of years now <a href="http://www.amazon.fr/Rite-Firebird-S-Petro-Igor-Stravinsky/dp/B000001GYI/ref=sr_1_4?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1416669577&sr=1-4&keywords=stravinsky+l%27oiseau+de+feu" target="_blank">this version</a> which I think is quite wonderful.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And, for all you music lovers out there I am sharing three of my birthday gifts today:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><em>Carnets de Voyage </em>by the violinist Nemanja Radulovic (<a href="http://www.amazon.fr/Carnets-Voyage-Ksenija-Milosevic/dp/B00NQ9YX9G/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1416677601&sr=1-1&keywords=carnets+de+voyage" target="_blank">here),</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><em>La Belle Excentrique </em>by the Baroque singer Patricia Petibon (<a href="http://www.amazon.fr/Belle-Excentrique-Olivier-Py/dp/B00KRT3AGU/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1416677723&sr=1-1&keywords=patricia+petitbon" target="_blank">here),</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"> <em>Rameau/Suites Livre III </em>by the<em> </em>pianist Alexander Paley (<a href="http://www.amazon.fr/Rameau-Suites-Livre-III-Jean-Philippe/dp/B00NC53MPU/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1416677831&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=alexandre+paley+rameau" target="_blank">here).</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And now I must leave you as Mickaël and I are off out for the evening to celebrate this special day. Thank you so much for all your kind and wonderful comments. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the fact you take the time and put so much thought into each one.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Happy weekend to you all!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-61770694900089571112014-11-12T09:55:00.000+01:002014-11-12T09:55:07.737+01:00Puddle Duck<div align="center">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Puddle Duck. It's a pretty sweet name, wouldn't you agree? After last week's creamy rice pudding knitting <a href="http://sbmillefeuilles.blogspot.fr/2014/11/oak-tree-with-fairy-lights.html" target="_blank">experience</a> (aka Worsted yarn knitting) I was hungry for more. I happily chanced upon Melissa Schaschwary's latest pattern on Ravelry, <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/puddle-duck" target="_blank">Puddle Duck,</a> and I was hooked. And then I became rather excited at the thought of knitting it in white and yellow; the colours of Beatrix Potter's Jemima Puddle Duck. These are simple pleasures, dear friends, and I do not know whether it was that particularly cheery shade of yellow or the style of this sweater but that happy feeling accompanied me during every stitch. Melissa's pattern though simple nevertheless taught me a few new techniques; the Twisted German Cast On method and Elizabeth Zimmerman's Sewn Bind Off, for example. I opted also for adding pockets which Angélique finds very handy indeed for storing her neverending collection of stones and leaves. Finally, the yarn - Madelinetosh Vintage in the Butter colourway - was a joy to use. I would best describe it as robust and hearty which just shows how sorely lacking I am in knitting terminology!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">On Sunday we took the long, winding route (made longer still by a charming-looking elderly man, sporting an orange silk scarf, who was driving a tiny, vintage and bright green car at a very slow speed) to one of my favourite villages, Azay Le Rideau, where we visited its Renaissance <em>château</em> once more. It is a jewel in the crown of the Loire Valley historical monuments, built between 1518 and 1524, and even the fact that the gardens were closed for renovation did not dampen our spirits. It is, I am sure you will agree, a delight to observe the children's enthusiasm on such outings. Tristan was especially thrilled by the beauty of his surroundings and almost cried with disappointment when we finally left. Therefore I chose to include some of his pictures here to share with you. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And what a delight it was to capture so many glimpses of yellow through the diamond panes. I am not certain whether my current craving for all shades of yellow stems from the short-lived beauty of autumn leaves, like detached pieces of sunshine, or perhaps I am instead in search of glowing light as days dwindle with every passing week. Last night I read Victoria Finlay's chapter, <em>Yellow</em>, in her rich and wonderful book, <em>Colour</em>, and fell upon these words:</span></div>
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<em><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">"No colour has a neat unambiguous symbolism, but yellow gives some of the most mixed messages of all. It is the colour of pulsating life - of corn and gold and angelic haloes - and it is also at the same time a colour of bile, and in its sulphurous incarnation it is the colour of the Devil. In animal life, yellow - especially mixed with black - is a warning. [...] In Asia yellow is the colour of power - the emperors of China were the only ones allowed to sport sunshine-coloured robes. But it is also the colour of declining power. A sallow complexion comes with sickness; the yellow of leaves in autumn not only symbolises their death, it indicates it."</span></em></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><em>Colour</em>, (Hodder and Stoughton, London: 2002) p. 225.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, how do you feel about the ambiguous colour yellow? Which things do you associate with it? I always think of bees, the crocus and daffodil and lemon tart, of course, and real farmer's eggs with bright yellow yolks. And cats too, obviously! For those of you who haven't spotted her on my Madame Millefeuilles pages both <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MadameMillefeuilles" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://instagram.com/madamemillefeuilles?modal=true" target="_blank">here</a> I must introduce you to Miss Primrose Kitten below. I was very nervous indeed about making her for a wonderful lady who breeds pedigree cats in England but I am glad to write that she has found favour with her future mistress. I have, incidentally, given curious Primrose a tail since this picture was taken when she climbed the old stone wall to admire the lichen and could not get down again!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Happy week friends! May your autumn days be filled with golden light.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie x</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">ps For information, I purposefully juxtaposed the two photographs of the rear view of Angélique and the cherub sculpture. I simply could not resist!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">ps My Ravelry notes for Puddle Duck may be found <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/puddle-duck" target="_blank">here.</a></span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-21721576857542256822014-11-02T19:17:00.002+01:002014-11-02T22:09:39.227+01:00Oak Tree With Fairy Lights<br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">For those of you who are not yarn literate 'Worsted' is the knitter's version of creamy rice pudding and apple crumble; instant gratification and comfort knitting. In the constant toing and froing of everyday life, with a half-term journey to England with my two youngest children thrown in, I turned my back for a short while on lace-knitting and opted for a delightfully simple and quick <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/old-growth-2" target="_blank">pattern</a> by Tin Can Knits, inspired by the mossy rocks and dripping rocks of the Pacific Northwest forests, named Old Growth. Ever since knitting my <a href="http://sbmillefeuilles.blogspot.fr/2014/01/the-spring-gatherer.html" target="_blank">Rosewater</a> hat in early spring, also by Tin Can Knits, I've been following her latest patterns with interest. I like the fact that this cardigan may be knitted for all sizes from newborn to fully grown woman and it looks perfectly lovely on little boys too.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And the yarn? Oh, the yarn! <a href="http://www.julie-asselin.com/" target="_blank">Julie Asselin</a> made a batch of speckled yarns, which were sold by Paris's most enchanting tearoom/yarn shop, L'Oisive Thé, and flew off the shelves like hot cakes. This colourway, 'It's My Party' though predominantly green has many spots of gentle colour which are as beautiful as the Northern Lights. Once soaked it becomes soft and squishy and Angélique has not taken it off since. She</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"> particularly likes the fat 1970s pale green buttons. My Ravelry notes for this cardigan (which I have named Oak Tree With Fairy Lights) are <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/old-growth" target="_blank">here.</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Since our return from England a few days ago there have been brilliant blue skies setting off the yellow vines which, now stripped of grapes, bask in the sunlight. This is the colour which surrounds us from all sides. There is red too. Bushes turning from sienna to scarlet and a few brave red roses enjoying the afternoon warmth like the few remaining butterflies swooping overhead and disappearing against a backdrop of golden leaves. I think it's important to fill my children's lives with colour when the evenings draw in and Angélique, instinctively, clamours to pick flowers and so we bring confetti-colored zinnias and Brown-Eyed Susans into our home and make small wild flowers posies to grace our often cluttered table</span>.</div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I am hoping to write more frequently here over the next weeks. Before I leave you I would like to share:</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.feastingathome.com/2014/09/beet-braised-lentils.html" target="_blank">This</a> scrumptious recipe which tastes of Autumn. The children absolutely love it!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The most sublime Parisian <a href="http://www.orizaparfums.com/la_gamme.html" target="_blank">perfume shop</a> which recreates 1920s scents. If you read the descriptions you will understand how much poetry there is in each glass bottle. Imagine a perfum which conveys the atmosphere of a seventeenth-century abbey or Louis XV's Versailles gardens? Beware! They have an online shop.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Finally, this new (to me) garden <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1604694688/ref=rdr_ext_tmb" target="_blank">writer</a> "Only a freehold will do, because when you plant a tree you want to think of its roots stretching down and down for ever, and its branches reaching up and up for all time, till in the end the blossom mingles with the stars." Beverley Nichols' charming prose about the love and toil he poured into his ramshackle, eighteenth-century house and gardens will see me through the autumn evenings.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I wish you all a wonderful week full of simple pleasures and a little magic.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie</span></div>
millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-85644973649469180872014-10-12T09:24:00.001+02:002014-10-12T12:21:46.598+02:00My Marrakech Patchwork - Around The World Blog Hop<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The colourful chaos and mad energy of the Imperial city of Marrakech has made a lasting impression on me. It held me in the grip of its feverish imagination. A thousand-year-old carnival with a multitude of soothsayers and storytellers, acrobats and orange juice sellers winding their way through the labyrinth of alleyways in the ancient Medina or settling instead for an evening on the great Jemma el Fna Square, the pulsing heart of the city. Marrakech is part authentic history book and part storybook filled with bright, bold and intricate illustrations. Marrakech is also overwhelming, disturbing and at times unpleasant. And perhaps, that is why it appeals to me; it is a never-ending, exhausting paradox which leaves little room for bland thoughts. I found in the sights, smells and sounds of Marrakech the definition of Baroque - a pearl of irregular shape - and fell for its innumerable irregular charms. And yet the heart of Marrakech remains, in a sense, on an elemental level: in its light and earth and water and the importance held for its population scratching a living within its hectic walls.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I left Morocco after three long days both thoughtful and inspired. On my arrival home I was greeted by a kind message from the very talented Debbie, who blogs over at T<a href="http://www.thecrimsonrabbit.co.uk/2014/09/29/around-the-world-blog-hop/" target="_blank">he Crimson Rabbit</a>, inviting me to participate in the Around The World Blog Hop. I accepted, of course, and was delighted to learn that Debbie was first and foremost a writer who now fills her days with creating and designing; we really do share some common ground! So, I will endeavour to answer the four questions about my creativity whilst keeping hold of the inspiration of Marrakech.</span></div>
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<em><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">1. W</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">hat am I working on?</span></em><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">This week Autumn struck with a wet bang after a long, sun-drenched September. As the rain fell I experienced my first creative 'failure'. After two years of running my tiny business of creating heirloom toys I completed a hare, Mademoiselle Lavender, who did not make my heart sing. It was terribly unsettling. With a loss of confidence in my creative ability, how could I continue to work on the growing list of customer orders? So, I followed a friend's advice and set my mind to creating something completely different - you will see it just below - and fortunately it has helped blow the cobwebs clean away. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">My memories of Marrakech have become fragmented over the past fortnight; shards of brightly coloured glass. I am a lover of detail - I hope the pictures of Marrakech above convey this - invariably opting for close-up scrutiny. On my return to France I noticed that early Autumn was very much like a patchwork of bright colours vying with subdued hues. Late summer flowers, often boisterous and even gaudy, cohabiting with autumnal fruit hanging heavily from trees. A kaleidescope of turning leaves outdoing the still green ones. The paths, made muddy, between endless rows of yellowing vines as grape harvest begins. And the sunrises growing technicoloured with the promise of early morning rain. I wanted to hold onto my memories of our holiday and also perhaps to the vestiges of summer and I decided, somehow, to create a piece of clothing for Angélique using the simplest patchwork. Most of the Liberty and batik fabrics I snipped and stitched were remnants of tiny clothes made for hares and mice created over the past two years.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">It was painstaking work, a small labour of love of sorts. I have never before used up so many spools of thread and now my respect for accomplished patchworkers has increased tenfold. In truth I enjoyed this creative process which comes as no surprise as it is all about detail, isn't it? And now I can visualise a whole series of these; one for each season, for example. I have the most stunning snowflake fabric for a winter one...</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?</em></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I am sure that many of those who read my blog have noticed that I work according to themes. As a child Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker fascinated me with its chocolate, coffee and tea dances. The idea that music could be composed to create a visual image intrigued and inspired me. A quick glance at past posts will reveal a strong desire to collect thoughts and images around a certain colour or idea. I am quite incapable of doing things any other way. I love the fact, for instance, that knitters on <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation" target="_blank">Ravelry</a> must give a name to each of their projects. I always enjoy dreaming up a theme when I am knitting. A shawl can become a traditional English pudding, a flower or, perhaps, a fairytale character. Add the delight of colours and choice of fibres and I am halfway to Heaven.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Each of my heirloom toys is created according to a theme. One will capture the essence of midwinter, another the nostalgia of a summer garden. I spend hours mulling over colour combinations and how, with embroidery, I can best capture the image I wish to represent; mistletoe for Christmas and tiny violets for spring. Sometimes I can spend far too much time dithering over choices. I recall making a Goldilocks rag doll, inspired by one of my favourite French illustrators, Charlotte Gastaut, and spending hours hesitating between embroidered porridge bowls or tiny bears sitting on red chairs. In the end I chose neither! I think that my fascination for detail works its way into my creations.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Finally, I will add that the majority of my work is inspired by my love of gardens.</span><br />
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<em><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">3. Why do I write/create what I do?</span></em><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">As a writer - my specialities are garden and performing arts aesthetics - I attempt, through words, to honour the beauty created by others. This may seem overly simple but beauty is essential to me. It is also entirely subjective and yet, I firmly believe, we are all capable of communicating through words, music, and any other art form, our own vision of beauty thereby sharing it with others. So, the desire to create stems from a need to share our sense of aesthetics. I'm back again with Tchaikovsky and his ability to create images with music.</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"> For example, one of my thesis chapters, later adapted for a <a href="http://www.hortus.co.uk/acatalog/Current-Issue.html" target="_blank">Hortus Magazine</a> article, was centred around Louis XIV's potager gardener, Jean de La Quintinie, in Versailles. Naturally I touched upon his gardening techniques and accomplishments but I revelled mostly in the poetic language he used to describe the array of apples and pears he cultivated behind those high garden walls in Versailles. Indeed, his thousand page treatise is simply beautiful to read. De La Quintinie was able to make the king's garden flourish and well as describing in his own words the aesthetic value of a pear. He was a most gifted man.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">My mother used to remind me as a child of the importance of performing a good deed on a daily basis. Nowadays I measure my days by how much beauty I have shared with others; even if it is just a freshly baked cake or a bunch of wildflowers! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>4. How does my writing/creative process work?</em></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Whilst in Marrakech we first entered the Souk around midnight on Saturday. On returning there the following day I was dismayed to find myself experiencing a mild anxiety attack. For those who have not yet visited Marrakech the Souk is an intricate labyrinth of ramshackle alleys with corrugated iron roofs bursting at the seams with handmade goods, people and at times dubious-looking vehicles and, yes, donkeys too. It is also of course a retelling of One Thousand And One Nights; a colourful and enchanting experience which quite simply sucks you in. I was afraid I would never find my way out. I also have the story my mother recounted of a friend who took his bride decades ago to Marrakech for their honeymoon only to lose her in the Souk. She was never seen again!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">My creative mind is a little like that Souk. I mostly think in a complex, convoluted manner; straight lines baffle me. And like the Souk my head is constantly brimming with creativity. Many of my ideas are large-scale and detailed; that's the thesis writer in me. If I were happy with straight lines I would probably write lists, but, I don't. I rarely jot my ideas down either which is quite odd for a writer. I do possess a plethora of beautiful notebooks, many of which are filled with scribbled garden history research notes, and I do hope that some day soon I will set down in words my creative thoughts. I don't write them down because as a mother of three my time is always limited and so I prefer to spend it simply creating. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Whilst my project ideas remain in my head rather than on paper I approach them with the same meticulous planning I used to organise my lessons during my seventeen years of teaching; the same applies to my blog posts. However, like the majority of teachers, I know that some of the best lessons are created spontaneously. I love that element of surprise despite the fact that a graphologist in Paris once told me that I was wary of the unexpected!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">We live in a fairly small home which is ideal in the sense that my working inspiration - my books, yarn, threads and fabric - surround me constantly giving me the visual stimulation I require for thinking up new projects. So, in short, my working process happens in my head whilst the children natter to me and whilst I organise our daily lives. I think that makes me very similar to a lot of other mothers, don't you?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Finally, I always work on one creative project at the time in a dogged fashion - I'm not good at multitasking - and I always relish long stretches of quiet time during which I work meticulously and also try out new techniques.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Now, I must choose three other ladies who inspire me creatively to join in the Around The World Blog Hop although there is absolutely no pressure ladies, please!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Lori at <a href="http://loritimesfive.blogspot.fr/" target="_blank">Lori Times Five</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Amélie at <a href="http://loritimesfive.blogspot.fr/" target="_blank">Bateaux de papier: a Diary for Elsa</a></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">and</span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Susan over at <a href="http://www.maryjanestearoom.com/" target="_blank">Mary Jane's Tearoom</a></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Thank you, as always, for taking the time to visit me here. I appreciate every single comment and mail I receive so very much. Thank you also for bearing with me today. I'm not terribly good at writing about myself but it was a honour to be invited by Debbie.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Marrakech photo credits: Céline Haudebourg, one of our dear travelling companions who designs the most exquisite bridal gowns and, like myself, is a lover of detail. I leave you with one last picture:</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Guess who?</span></div>
millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-62925468158425207762014-09-21T14:28:00.000+02:002014-09-24T02:22:05.580+02:00The Double-Edged Sword<div align="center">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I had decided this was going to be my last post. I gave myself time to reflect and whilst my mind was saying one thing my heart was telling me another. So what if we are all busy bouncing between family, real life and the evergrowing expanse of social networking? Never mind if this small space of mine is attracting less comments than before. When it comes to the crunch I cannot forget the valuable connection made with precious souls through this blog and theirs. Wonderful, inspring ladies have expressed my mixed feelings so much more eloquently than I could, both <a href="http://foxslane.blogspot.fr/2014/09/my-fridays-on-instagram.html#.VB66NbvlqW8" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://herlibraryadventures.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/we-are-all-connected.html" target="_blank">here</a>. I will, for the time being, stay here with gratitude for the friendships and inspiration offered to me in these past three years.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">September has been glorious; continuous mellow, dusty heat with ripening apples, pears and grapes. It has also been hard. A precious member of my family was unexpectedly taken ill two weeks ago causing us all to scurry hither and thither, drawing ever closer in love. I've been left with feelings of gratitude for my parents and siblings, again, but fear of inevitable, impending mortality too. And that is why, perhaps, this September I have finally put my finger on my usual reticence to embrace autumn. As the meadows and countryside change colour around us we find the shimmery hues of autumn leaves thrilling. But in a sense they dupe us for they signal death and disintegration. In time they will become fragile and return to dust. Leaves sublime from one beautiful state to another - much as some religions tell us we will - and as they lose their green life they bloom with urgent colours. "Carpe Diem', they seem to whisper. This early autumn I hear their message loud and clear. Life is precious and I intend to honour its beauty in my humble, happy manner.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I leave you with a palette of greens, yellows and plums. Happy autumn friends! Because, despite my sombre words, it really is a precious season.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Featured above:</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alaria-shawl" target="_blank">Alaria Shawl</a> <span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">knit with divine <a href="http://skeinyarn.com/" target="_blank">Skein yarn</a> Merino Cashmere Fingering in Sunspot. My Ravelry notes are <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/alaria-shawl" target="_blank">here.</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Mademoiselle Apple And BlackBerry Crumble who is off to start a new life in Australia.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Mickäel and I are off to Marrakech next weekend for a short stay. I hope to return with a few pictures to share with you all.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Warmest wishes to you all.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com67tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-86250466911715048632014-08-31T18:36:00.001+02:002014-08-31T22:42:35.606+02:00Gift From The Sea<br />
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"<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>The beach is not the place to work; to read, write or think [...] - at least, not at first. [...] the tired body takes over completely. As on shipboard, one descends into a deck-chair apathy. One is forced against one's mind, against all tidy resolutions, back into the primeval rhythms of the sea-shore. [...] And then, some morning in the second week, the mind wakes,comes to life again. [...] It begins to drift, to play, to turn over in gentle careless rolls like those lazy waves on the beach. One never knows what chance treasures these easy unconscious rollers may toss up.</em>"</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Anne Morrow Lindbergh, <em>Gift From The Sea </em>(Pantheon Books: New York, 1955), pp. 15-16.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Dear friends,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">On returning from our holidays in Belle Ile en Mer a few days ago, I found a parcel from Stephanie over at <a href="http://woolythyme.typepad.com/woolythymes/" target="_blank">Woolythyme</a></span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">; an exquisite knitted shell together with the book, <em>Gift From The Sea</em>, quoted above. It was, simply, the perfect gift to receive after our time away by the sea. I have already touched upon the enchanting beauty of this Breton island <a href="http://sbmillefeuilles.blogspot.fr/2013/08/flower-meadow.html" target="_blank">last year</a></span>. <span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Countless thoughts and adjectives spring to mind when I look back on those precious weeks. Sometimes returning to the same place twice with the same fellow travellers can be a little risky. Will it be as wonderful as the last time? Will the place hold the same magic still? Of course, we needn't have been concerned. The air was still as pure, the weather as gloriously clement and the seafood as delectable. However, if I am honest, the predominant emotion I am left with is gratitude. Not for this island (I've always really wished I could live an entire year there) nor for the salty air and glittering sand but for my family. It's hard not to get emotional whilst writing these words. As many of you know from personal experience, it isn't easy living in a different country from the majority of your loved ones. I prefer to put these regrets to one side and to feel deep, deep gratitude for having a family in which EVERYBODY gets on so very, very well. All those lengthy conversations, silly jokes and long, long hugs have left me feeling calm - I'll admit, it took me quite a while to relax this summer - and positive. Perhaps the person I hugged the hardest was my father - can you believe he will be turning ninety-two in a couple of months?- and my wonderful mother too, of course! It is thanks to their love for us all and their generosity that that we were able to spend these days together.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">And so I am back home. There are new adventures around the corner, many animals - not just hares - to create and an exciting business venture I'm so thrilled about. Until I return with more news I will share, below, a few pictures of recent knits. Because when there are holidays there is time to knit and read, and read and knit.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">The Duck Egg Blue cardigan Angélique is wearing is a new pattern by Georgie Hallam called <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/posy" target="_blank">Posy.</a> If you'd look closely you'd find the odd grain of glittering sand and wisps of dried grass from Belle Ile as I knit this pretty much everywhere we went. I even took it on a four-hour boat trip around the island although it was far to windy to wrestle with four double pointed needles! The flower meadow, incidentally, is not the one in <a href="http://sbmillefeuilles.blogspot.fr/2013/08/flower-meadow.html" target="_blank">Belle Ile</a> but another, equally beautiful, a few minutes' stroll from our home.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The baby cardigan was a gift for the hotel manager's wife who has a eight-month old daughter named Valentine. I wanted to show my gratitude for the summer job Héloïse had been offered in Belle Ile. The pattern is my third version of Dani Sunshine's <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bella-26" target="_blank">Bella</a> and I still love it as much as my first attempt.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">My Ravelry notes for both knits may be found <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/posy" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/bella-3" target="_blank">here.</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Tomorrow is school and I would like to wish all parents and children a very happy new school year. Finally, whilst I've been away from the computer for the best part of a month I have finally joined <a href="http://instagram.com/madamemillefeuilles?modal=true" target="_blank">Instagram</a></span> <span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">and am thoroughly enjoying it!</span> <span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Would you like to come and say hello?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I am hugely looking forward to visiting your blogs again.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">A bientôt,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie</span></div>
millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-81021882303632866612014-08-01T12:17:00.000+02:002014-08-01T15:31:58.593+02:00Dancing With Summer Flowers<div align="center">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">What an interesting summer it has been so far! Almost four weeks after the last of three cases of Scarlet Fever in our family I think it is safe for me to proclaim jubilantly that Tristan and I have trumped this unpleasant and rather vintage illness. The <a href="http://sbmillefeuilles.blogspot.fr/2014/07/clad-in-blossom.html" target="_blank">sore throat</a> Héloïse started on the day of her Baccalauréat results was the first symptom of Scarlet Fever, poor child. All is well now. Héloïse left, a week behind schedule, to start her first summer job in a splendid <a href="http://www.castel-clara.com/fr/index.php" target="_blank">hotel</a> on the island of Belle Ile en Mer and the rest of us have been relishing the tough, resilient Paradise of high summer in Touraine. There is nothing fey or delicate about blooming fists of lavender. "Yikes!" I say out loud, in a mixture of delight and confusion when I observe our fast-growing garden. Let us say that weeks of intense sunlight and rainfall have been a boon to all plant life.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I love the way the garden becomes an outside room during the summer months. Our small house grows bigger. Evenings spent with special friends, barely able to hear the trilling crickets over our shrill laughter. Candles in holders casting lacework shadows over our lichen-covered cherry tree. Another bottle of champagne? Why not! It will help us forget the latent threat of voracious mosquitos. The food we eat is simple and good. Shortcrust tarts with goat's cheese, tomato and basil. Greek salad with just enough red onion and a big fistful of dill. Luscious apricots and peaches are always piled up high in our fruit bowl. They must be gobbled up fast; the hot, humid weather spoils them quickly. My current favourite - and Tristan's too - is a tart made with peaches and a few sprigs from our lavender bush.* The secret is to mix in a few lavender flowers only.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Summer is the song everyone is humming and I, perhaps, more loudly than all. Victoria Finlay's fascinating book, <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Travels-Paintbox-Victoria-Finlay/dp/0340733292/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406884665&sr=1-3&keywords=colour" target="_blank">Colour,</a> has inspired me to play with the bright and vibrant this season, even more than usual. I stayed up far too late last night reading her chapter on Orange (my least favourite colour). 'Dance the orange,' the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote in a wonderful waltzing poem about a fruit and a colour that pretend to be sweet but are actually rambunctious and challenging. Last night's compelling read transported me to the city of Cremona in Italy where, around 1750, the secret of how Antonio Stradivari made the orange varnish for his instruments was lost. Doubtless, I will be writing about this book again in the future.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">In the meantime the pictures below testify to my love affair with summery colours and Liberty fabrics which I always purchase from <a href="http://www.alicecaroline.co.uk/" target="_blank">this,</a> my favourite online shop.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Angélique's dress fabric is Floral Eve, from the Spring & Summer 2013 collection. The pattern is <a href="http://www.citronille.fr/produit.php?id_produit=191#pid_191" target="_blank">Suzanne</a> from the French Citronille pattern and fabric shop. Amazing, beautiful, easy patterns which can be purchased in English. I know that <a href="http://www.soulemama.com/" target="_blank">Soule Mama</a> and <a href="http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/" target="_blank">Posie gets Cozy</a> are huge fans too. And that beautiful floral wreath? Another success from the talented <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/AmoreBride?ref=pr_shop_more" target="_blank">Michele from Amore Bride.</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Summer has also brought a dose of magic. For those who have not read this little story over on my Madame Millefeuilles page, you will find it <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/AmoreBride?ref=pr_shop_more" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Tomorrow is Mickaël's birthday. Tomorrow we set off for Brittany where the next chapter of our summer begins. Next week I am hoping to, finally, upgrade my mobile telephone in order to join in with the Instagram fun.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Happy August, dear friends.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">* It's easy as pie to make. The usual shortcrust pastry first, and then slice a few peaches or nectarines which need to me mixed gently with 3 tablespoons of cornstarch or arrowroot powder, 100 g of sugar, I tablespoon of lavender buds, I teaspoon of vanilla extract and a pinch of sea salt. Pop the tart into the oven - preheated at 180°C/375°F - for around 30 minutes after having dotted a few nobs of butter onto the peaches.</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-33655288274309778982014-07-13T00:10:00.000+02:002014-07-13T10:22:45.481+02:00Storybook Lane<br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Dear readers,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Did you know that in the first written version of <em>Goldilocks And The Three Bears</em>, by the British author and poet Robert Southey, published in 1837, the central character was not a little girl but an unpleasant and malicious old women - a vixen of sorts? The story at the time bore the title of <em>The Three Bears</em>. It was in 1849 that Southey's intrusive old women became an intrusive girl, who bore various names referring to her fair hair. The name <em>Goldilocks</em> was settled upon in the early Twentieth Century. It would seem that children favoured a pretty, naughty girl to an ugly, old hag and I do believe that book illustrators enjoy portraying Goldilocks who fares well in most versions of this story in contrast with the original vagrant woman.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">We have several <em>Goldilocks </em>in our home; I delight in opening Angélique's mind to the subtle differences in interpretation between each rendition of a fairy tale. Let me be honest though; I have a soft spot for children's book illustrators and purchase such publications as much for my pleasure as for my children's. The work of French artist, Charlotte Gastaut, always inspires me. She works with contrasting colours and patterns and her attention to detail makes my heart sing. Her <em>Goldilocks </em>is my absolute favourite. There's a vintage style to her illustrations and, correct me if I am wrong, her choice of colours calls to mind traditional Russian children's tales. Birds, butterflies and flowers pepper her pages and her characters always seem to have large, black eyes like mirrors to their innocent souls.</span><em></em></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I found myself drawn to this inquisitive child with her short, curly blond locks and was quite smitten with her red shoes! One day, by chance, I found a fabric, named <em>Storybook Lane,</em> which shared many of the same colours and details as Gastaut's illustrations of the forest in which Goldilocks wanders and I knew I had to make my version of this little girl, a doll, of course.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">High-spirited, a lover of flowers, and a little naughty too. Please meet my Goldilocks who, though very different from Gastaut's, is clad in the same vibrant colours. I had so much fun creating this small girl picking flowers in the forest, straying further and further away from her cosy home. But she hasn't met the three bears yet. I think I might have to make another doll wearing different clothes and colours inspired by the bears' cottage.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Her Mary Jane shoes are fashioned from pure wool felt in cherry red and clinched with heart buttons. Her celadon-blue pinafore has a sprinkling of hand-embroidered daisies and simple flowers and her white lawn bloomers are trimmed with French pink lace.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Although I am very fond of her I have slipped her into my shop for a few days. So, if you would like to give a home to a courageous, sweet girl who is happiest when skipping amongst the trees and filling her basket with wild flowers, you may find her <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/195252086/goldilocks-in-the-forest?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Of course I would love to know whether you have a favourite fairy tale or Illustrator? I am very fond of The Snow Queen and The Twelve Dancing Princesses.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I wish you all a wonderful weekend and thank you so much for taking the time to read my words. I truly appreciate it.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie x</span> </div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-45699228469044567962014-07-05T21:07:00.002+02:002014-07-05T21:35:25.430+02:00Clad In Blossom<div align="center">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Few words today, friends. Yesterday Héloïse went to school, her heart in her mouth, to find out her Baccalauréat examination results. Would you believe she scored a general average of 19.23 out of 20? Not only did she obtain the highest marks in the school - <em>Mention Très Bien + avec Félicitations du Jury </em>- but is believed to be in the top hundred in France. Heartfelt hugs were shared with so many teachers and I must confess I cried with shock and delight right there in the middle of all those anxious pupils and parents. </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">We arrived home in the early hours of this morning after celebrating with friends my beautiful daughter's success but now, unfortunately, Héloïse is nursing a very painful throat. She really needs to rest after the past few weeks of strain, I believe.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Although it is now high summer and porcelain pink Pierre Ronsard roses are gracing local high walls, paying tribute to our local Renaissance poet, I have been inspired by the exquisite apple blossom wreath which sweet <a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/AmoreBride" target="_blank">Michele</a> created for me. Do you recall the <a href="http://sbmillefeuilles.blogspot.fr/2014/03/wild-violet-season.html" target="_blank">crown</a> of wild violets Angélique was wearing in early spring? Michele's work is truly lovely and one flowery wreath never seems to be enough! This artist's home overlooks a beautiful apple tree orchard which, in late spring, is cloudy with the frilliest, candiest of all pinks and creams. I think she has captured the magical beauty of blossom to perfection; don't you? </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">In my formidable yarn stash a few delicious skeins of silky alpaca <a href="http://www.oldmaidenaunt.com/shop.php?crn=216" target="_blank">Old Maiden Aunt</a> sport weight in a peachy hued Blossom colourway were begging to be turned into a simple, delicate top. Leah Thibault's <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sakura-cardigan" target="_blank">Sakura Cardigan</a> was deemed the perfect pattern.* Peaceful knitting with the rustic luxury of Old Maiden Aunt to accompany me during the intense few weeks in late spring and early summer.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">My Ravelry notes may be found right <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ornamentation/sakura-cardigan" target="_blank">here.</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The school summer holidays have started today and we are all more than ready for them. We will be around over the course of July, greeting friends into our humble home, and away in August to Brittany. I'd love to learn about your hopes and dreams for this summer!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Warmest wishes to you all,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">* We'll never forget our sweet <a href="http://sbmillefeuilles.blogspot.fr/2011/10/sakura.html" target="_blank">Sakura</a>.</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com44tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-90855228641502196012014-06-14T19:48:00.000+02:002014-07-05T21:09:35.886+02:00Eglantine And The Year in Books (And Giveaway Winners)<div align="center">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Eglantine; soft pink petals, falling loosely when plucked, against small, bright green leaves. Its other name, sweet-briar, comes from its faint apple scent wafting on a warm, summer wind. Conjure up in your mind these simple, wild roses together with the summer solstice and you have yourself an idyllic landscape. Titania's bower in <em>A Midsummer Night's Dream </em>was 'over-canopied with luscious woodbine, / With sweet musk roses, and with eglantine'. This flower is also armed with stout thorns - its name, according to Katherine Swift, means 'prickly' from the Latin <em>aculeus, </em>'a litle needle', by way of the Provençal <em>aiglentina</em>.* - and is surely the briar through which the prince fought his way to Sleeping Beauty's turret room.</span><em></em></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Eglantine; a rag doll whose vintage cotton sheet body has been dyed with caramel tea leaves - the kitchen smelled <em>wonderful</em> - with braided hair in 'Treacle Toffee' alpaca and silk <a href="http://www.oldmaidenaunt.com/shop.php?crn=216" target="_blank">yarn</a> (I'm unashamedly addicted to this), kissable cheeks, a rose-sprigged Liberty print and a golden-winged embroidered fairy faintly reminiscent of the twelve good fairies who bestowed gifts at Sleeping Beauty's christening. Oh, and I mustn't forget her knitted shoes! I must have made at least three pairs in different coloured yarns before settling for her plumy rose ones. The talented doll-maker, <a href="http://littlejennywren.blogspot.com.au/" target="_blank">Little Jenny Wren's</a> pattern, which is free, may be found <a href="http://littlejennywren.blogspot.com.au/2013/11/the-little-jenny-wren-shoe-simple.html" target="_blank">here.</a> I love Jenny Marshall's dolls so very much and you too can fall for their undeniable charms on her <a href="http://fr.pinterest.com/ljennywren/little-jenny-wren-dolls/" target="_blank">Little Jenny Wren's Dolls Page on Pinterest.</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And my reading material for this rose-filled month of June is Elizabeth Jane Howard's <em>The Light Years</em>.<em> </em></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">"<em>Sybil got up from bed and went to the open window; the air smelled warmly of honeysuckle and roses, there was the metallic sounds of blackbirds settling down for the night and the sky was turning apricot streaked with little molten feathery clouds. 'Look thy last on all things lovely, every hour,' came into her mind. She leaned further out of the window and pulled a rose towards her to smell it. [...] She was thirty-eight, and the thought that it might be a very hard labour and that she might die recurred now. The petals of the rose began to drop; and when she let go of it, it swung back with only the stamens left."</em></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Elizabeth Jane Howard, <em>The Light Years </em>(Pan Books: London, 2013) p. 127.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">What a fascinating life Howard led, according to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/02/elizabeth-jane-howard-dies-90" target="_blank">this obituary.</a> A very good thing, perhaps, for I could not help but notice how many details in this, the first of four volumes of The Cazalet Chronicles, are of an autobiographical nature; smuggling into the pages the author's own version of Eden. Focusing on the pre-war years of 1937-38 Howard appeals to the childhood of many readers. There is so much more, of course. For those who are interested in the social context of the time the varying constrictions in the lives of middle-class women are sharply brought to modern light together with the reluctant obligations placed heavily on the shoulders of middle-class young men around whom everything seemed to revolve. Sweet nostalgia tempered with virulent depictions of inequality and suffering. I haven't finished reading <em>The Light Years </em>yet but I am grateful for the dose of English life, both in London and in the Sussex countryside, it has afforded me.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Before I finally cut to the chase and announce the two giveaway winners, please wish Héloïse well for this coming week's Baccalauréat exams. She's had a few already but this week is going to be <em>intense</em>! Secondly, as I proudly announced <a href="https://www.facebook.com/469485286403841/photos/a.484694981549538.116754.469485286403841/795777407107959/?type=1&theater" target="_blank">over here</a> last week, Tristan came top of all forty-five guitarists for his end of year exams. I had goosebumps when he played and the parents and children broke into applause right there in that exam room. He was, despite his stress, so very poised for a ten-year old. A joyful moment indeed for both mother and son.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Truly, the best thing for me about these two giveaways has been the delight of reading kind-hearted comments left by readers I had not had the pleasure of 'meeting' before. Thank you to all of you for taking the time to write to me and for expressing your enthusiasm. I wish, somehow, I could make each one of you a winner.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">So, the winner of the Salley Mavor two art posters (offered and signed by the artist herself) and the book (a gift from me) is Jessica Stride.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">The winner of my Maytime Hare is Ali Thomson up in fair Scotland.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Congratulations dear ladies! I look forward to receiving from each of you your full postal address via Facebook or email when you have a moment. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I'll be back within the week as I have many exciting things to share with you. Now, if you don't mind, I have a Banoffee Cheesecake to bake for Father's Day tomorrow.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">With very warm wishes,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I'm joining in with Laura's June version of <a href="http://circleofpinetrees.com/category/the-year-in-books/" target="_blank">The Year In Books.</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">*Katherine Swift, <em>The Morville Hours</em>, p. 186.</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><em> </em></span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-4728905249250860912014-05-30T11:04:00.000+02:002014-05-30T11:04:06.663+02:00A Maytime Hare - GIVEAWAY!<br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Before I launch this jolly (late) springtime giveaway please bear with me as I gently urge you to find yourselves some rhubarb and a small pot of thick sour cream to make <a href="http://lunchlady.net.au/emma-deans-same-old-crap-rhubarb-cake/" target="_blank">this cake</a> - it is truly scrumptious and holds the taste of spring in my opinion.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I am mighty glad to have carved out this precious corner of time from the organised havoc of guitar concerts, relentless choir rehearsals, theatre performances, seven music exams (for a ten-year old), final dance shows (for my imminent school-leaver) and the long stretch of Baccalauréat examinations which have triggered as many outbreaks of eczema for Héloïse as the stage make-up she's been using. Most of it is uplifting stuff although I would be lying if I said that voices were rarely raised in our home and sleep never broken. Keep stitching, baking and walking, I say. And a few chuckles and belly laughs in between the stress-ridden moments work wonders too!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I am delighted to introduce you to <span style="color: #f1c232;">Spring Chick <span style="color: #666666;">my latest limited edition hare created specifically to celebrate almost three years of blogging, nurturing precious friendships and sharing inspiration with like-minded folk. This little lady is most definitely a nod to the kitsch and a tad quirkly. She is a Mistress of Flowers clad in early morning glimpses of patchwork fields of brilliant yellow oilseed and creamy lady's lace (just look at those bloomers!) The month of May in our parts is usually terribly rainy and so very verdant - a hundred shades of green. My favourite is a cross between pea-green and parrot-green; both of which feature in the Liberty fabric dress. If I close my eyes for a moment I see garden festivals, held between sunny spells and rain clouds, cakes being baked and eaten with clotted cream. I see the white flowers of strawberries, and a colourful riot of columbines and foxgloves. Part of me, however, is holding onto the movable feast of Easter with its <em>entourage</em> of early spring flowers; hence the two chicks perched on each hare limb.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I could go on and on... You know that, don't you?</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Antique French creamy lace and tulle, spring flowers on a new Liberty print, bright pink satin ribbon, gold-threaded 1950s ric rac and perky chicks. Like her or hate her she's one of a kind!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, if Miss Spring Chick tickles your fancy there are <span style="color: #e69138;">THREE </span><span style="color: #666666;">ways to win her and you can try all three ways to give yourselves a little extra luck.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">First, all you have to do is to leave a comment at the end of this post. Everybody is welcome regardless of where you live or whether you are a regular reader of Millefeuilles.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">For a second chance, if you wish, you can <span style="color: #f1c232; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">SPREAD THE WORD <span style="color: #666666;">about</span></span> this giveaway on your blog or put a link in your sidebar. Please feel free to choose the picture your prefer for that.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Finally, if you are on <span style="color: #6aa84f;">FACEBOOK</span>, there is a post about this giveaway on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Madame-Millefeuilles/469485286403841" target="_blank">my page</a> which if you LIKE and SHARE will give you <span style="color: #ea9999;">ANOTHER</span> chance to win. Don't forget to leave another quick comment here once you have done the deed to let me know.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">This giveaway will close on Tuesday June 10th and I will be using the Random Number Generator to pick the winner.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I'm afraid the <em>macarons</em> are NOT included in the giveaway. There are currently sitting in our fridge! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">A bientôt,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">Stephanie</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS;">ps I have decided to announce the winner of the Salley Mavor <a href="http://sbmillefeuilles.blogspot.fr/2014/05/the-year-in-books-violet-season.html" target="_blank">Giveaway</a> on June 10th, too. This way I will be making one trip to the post office with two parcels instead of one. Three actually. It seems that more than a handful of you have been misled into believing the giveaway was a book instead of a beautiful poster. I could not resist, therefore the urge to purchase a brand new copy of Mavor's book <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pocketful-Posies-Treasury-Nursery-Rhymes/dp/0618737405/ref=la_B000APRMUQ_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401384152&sr=1-1" target="_blank">A Pocketful Of Posies</a> - a feast of artistic inspiration - which I will be offering, together with the two posters, to the winner.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">pps The book featuring in the very first picture is Vic Brotherson's <em>Vintage Flowers</em> which was generously gifted many moons ago by Annie over at <a href="http://knitsofacto.blogspot.fr/" target="_blank">Knitsofacto.</a></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Sorry Gaspard. Those<em> macarons </em>are not for you either.</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com121tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-91488324661324764102014-05-16T15:51:00.000+02:002014-05-16T15:51:02.321+02:00The Year In Books: A Violet Season<br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Before leaving for Paris this weekend to spend time with my family I am squeezing in a post after almost a month's silence.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Although the season for wild violets came to a close early April in our corner of France I have been cultivating my love for these tiny blooms with hand-dyed threads and a beautifully-penned book. </span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">In a recent <a href="http://sbmillefeuilles.blogspot.fr/2014/03/wild-violet-season.html" target="_blank">post</a> of mine, also dedicated to violets, the author Kathy Leonard Czepiel wrote a comment gently suggesting I read her debut novel <a href="http://www.amazon.com/A-Violet-Season-Novel/dp/1451655061" target="_blank">A Violet Season</a> (published in 2012). It took me two minutes to order it and two evenings to devour its two hundred and fifty odd pages.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I recall my primary school master decades ago urging us not to judge a book by its cover but his cautionary words flew out of my head when I set eyes on this pretty cover. Fortunately, in this case, this book is both beautiful without and within. It is also hard and frank; a dark tale of a hardscrabble life set in 1898 on a violet farm Upstate New York. Leonard Czepiel's carefully researched and constructed novel carried me back to the turn of the twentieth century and kept my senses alive with every page I turned. It is</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> a finely-written tribute to late nineteenth-century women's endurance which has put in check my daily and trivial grumbles. The booming violet industry provides a sensual backdrop to the dashed hopes and drudgery of most women who must endure the sometimes heartless decisions and subterfuge of their menfolk and teaches the reader how hardy both violets and women can be. It is also a book delightfully stuffed with details of the everyday life of over a century ago. Glimpses of city life provide a counterpoint to the Fletcher family's rural existence. Household chores, Christmas traditions - violets were grown over winter, not spring - and one of the early sewing machines makes an appearance too!</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I will not share the storyline of <i>A Violet Season</i> with you but I will say that a woman's relationship with her daughter is damaged (beyond repair?) as they both make dreadful sacrifices for their family's survival.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">And the violets in the first picture above? They are a work in progress from <a href="http://blackbird-designs.blogspot.fr/" target="_blank">Blackbird Designs</a> (I purchased the sampler chart, linen, and threads from <a href="http://www.desfillesetuneaiguille.com/BLACKBIRD-DESIGNS-Violets-Blu" target="_blank">here</a> ) and the perfect complement to my recent reading. The violets are stitched on Iced Cappuccino hand-dyed linen from R & R Reproductions with Weeks Dye Works floss in River Rock, Stepping Stone, and Stone colourways.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.desfillesetuneaiguille.com/WebRoot/ce_fr2/Shops/210375/5102/7354/8FBD/6194/7394/C0A8/8007/B832/BD-Violet_s_Blue_ml.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.desfillesetuneaiguille.com/WebRoot/ce_fr2/Shops/210375/5102/7354/8FBD/6194/7394/C0A8/8007/B832/BD-Violet_s_Blue_ml.jpg" height="640" width="494" /></a></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Finally, in a desire to feed Angélique's overwhelming enthusiasm for Nursery Rhymes two years ago I stumbled across <a href="http://weefolkstudio.com/" target="_blank">Salley Mavor's</a> stunning textile artwork through <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pocketful-Posies-Treasury-Nursery-Rhymes/dp/0618737405/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1400245963&sr=1-3&keywords=salley+mavor" target="_blank">this book</a>. I recall showing it to my mother on one of her visits to our home and she too was in awe of this amazing artist's attention to detail and the rich colours she uses.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">A few weeks ago I purchased a signed copy of Salley Mavor's <i>Self Portrait: A Personal History of Fashion</i>. I was touched to receive a second copy, also autographed, which I decided with the artist's approval, to send as a gift to one of you. This fabric relief sculpture incorporates miniature dolls which represent each year of the artist's life; each one is hand-stitched and displays a wealth of details of fashion over the past fifty years.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you are interested in receiving a copy of this work of art together with a poster of Mavor's beautiful <a href="http://weefolkstudio.com/2012/05/13/new-fairy-poster/" target="_blank">Blossom Fairies</a> please leave me a comment below. I will announce the winner in just over a week.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I hope you are all well and happy. I dedicate this post to my American friends who are finally enjoying violets after a long winter.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I have the pleasure of joining in with Laura's May version of <a href="http://circleofpinetrees.com/year-books-may/" target="_blank">The Year In Books</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Stephanie xx</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">ps BE WARNED! To celebrate (almost) three full years of this small blog of mine there will be a Spring Hare Giveaway on my next post. She is blooming, kitsch and cheery in equal measures!</span></div>
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millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com53tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-15333332839361432952014-04-19T17:37:00.002+02:002014-04-20T20:53:48.725+02:00Happy Easter!<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><i>"This was the day for eating simnel cake, with its layers of yellow marzipan and eleven marzipan balls on top, said to signify the twelve disciples minus Judas.[...] The yellow of marzipan, the yellow of eggs, the yellow of saffron: the colour of spring."</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Katherine Swift, <i>The Morville Hours</i>, (Bloomsbury: London, 2008) p. 101</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I will keep my message short and sweet for once! I wish you all a peaceful, Holy, happy Easter full of flowers, love, and, dare I add, chocolate. I hope you are surrounded by your loved ones and that there is laughter and sunshine for each and every one of you.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I am delighted to write that I am taking Héloïse, Tristan (together with his guitar), and Angélique to see my parents in England in a few days' time. We've all been waiting eagerly for this opportunity. Poor Mickaël, who is suffering from a Badminton induced injury, will have to stay behind and keep Gaspard the dog company.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">To celebrate Easter I have created a springtime hare whose name is Primrose Pascaline. An egg yolk yellow flowery skirt, embroidered apple blossom and violets on her ankles and a pair of bloomers made from a patchwork of spring flower fabrics. My favourite fabric of all is the Liberty you can spot on her Easter egg filled skirt pocket. It has pretty cowslips on it! </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">If you are interested in giving her a home you may find her <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/186743257/primrose-pascaline?ref=shop_home_active_1" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I should add that I intend to cease hare-making production in the near future. 'Hurrah', some of you might cheer! All good things come to an end. And new doors open, I believe.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Happy weekend to you all,</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Stephanie</span></div>
millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7021767487568808447.post-56774887929481180142014-04-12T18:03:00.001+02:002014-04-14T08:26:38.163+02:00Gently Does It<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Since my previous <a href="http://sbmillefeuilles.blogspot.fr/2014/03/kitsch-spring.html" target="_blank">post</a> I've had to give up any foolish hopes of holding on to early spring. It's full steam ahead from now on: purple-tinged irises, an abundance of trailing wisteria covering honey-coloured high walls and filling the air with their sweet scent, lily of the valley, lilac, poppies, roses tumbling open against barely unfurled greenery. All are jostling for attention against a delightful backdrop of carnival-hued tulips with silky petals. "Look at me, look at us!" they clamour silently. The primroses are still gracing us with their demure presence. We must, sadly, bid farewell to the daffodils, narcissi, and wild violets for yet another year. We are no longer at the awakening of spring but reaching the heady heights of a green countryside punctuated with the brilliance of flowers. It calls to mind Botticelli's <i>Primavera</i> which depicts Zephyrus hot in pursuit of sparsely clad Chloris, the virginal Greek personification of Spring, and her subsequent transformation into Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, crowned with blossom, her robe embroidered with pinks and roses, her arms filled with flowers.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Fortunately, I can hold on to those early spring flowers thanks to Silke Leffler's charming illustrations in the children's </span><a href="http://www.amazon.de/Aufgewacht-Fr%C3%BChling-kommt-Sigrid-Laube/dp/3219111467" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank">book</a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"> below. Her visual personification of plants always delight me.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Spring so far has brought its fair share of challenges. Will this be the year we finally sell our fisherman's cottage by the sea after six years of legal struggles? When will we finally be able to purchase our own home here near Tours? We've also been endeavouring to nuture Héloïse during this Baccalauréat year both physically and emotionally. She is hoping to leave France in September to take up her offer at Durham University which is thrilling, of course. However, the complexity of the paperwork involved is challenging my desire to remain serene! Although the pros of living between two countries clearly outweigh the cons the journey is rarely straightforward at the outset.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">But that is life, as I am sure you will agree, and there are so many treasure around to enjoy. Our first visit to the gardens of <a href="http://www.chateauvillandry.fr/" target="_blank">Villandry</a> this year with its complex boxtree parterres playing shadow games on the fine gravel with sunlight and birdsong everywhere. The persistant call of the cuckoo. A harp recital held in the Tours <a href="http://www.mba.tours.fr/index.php?idtf=5165" target="_blank">Fine Arts Museum</a> one evening listening to Domenico Scarlatti's music surrounded by eighteenth-century paintings with an enthralled Tristan squeezing my arm. Actually, there have been a number of concerts this season; each different and all wonderful. It's good to watch a four-year old Angélique as absorbed by the music as her siblings.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">There are two cherry trees in our garden: one is covered with thick pink puffiness the colour of my mother's homemade strawberry ice-cream and frilled with yellow nascent leaves. The other, fully clothed in pure white, provides us with gentle drifts of petals. "Look, it's snowing!' cry the children in delight. But even as I write today the latter has shed its beauty, and the pink wonder is dropping flurries of petals too. It's all too ephemeral but the lunches beneath the cherry-tree branches this week have been committed to family memory.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">And together with the cherry trees and spring comes a surge of inspiration. Tell me, is this happening to you too? I am determined to hold on to this natural beauty and the colours by slowly and surely weaving them into my creative projects. However as I painstakingly stitched Fleur de Cerisier, my cherry blossom doll, with a vintage cotton sheet hand-dyed in Easter tea (such a delicious smell), I realised that my dollmaking skills need to be worked on. I really need to make more refined facial features! My initial frustration and disappointment with my completed doll were, fortunately, replaced by the desire to improve my abilities with the next one; to create a completely new pattern. It is a thrilling thing this creative journey which involves paradoxical feelings of 'this is going to be amazing' to 'oh no, it's really bad' and then back full circle to 'it's pretty good, actually'.</span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">When your creative skills fail you, you can always bake a simple cake with crystallised spring flowers (brushed with egg white and gently coated in white sugar) and eat it under the flowering cherry tree. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Food for the soul!</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">So tell me, do you lose confidence in your creative abilities sometimes? If so, how do you deal with it?</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Warmest wishes to you all for a beautiful spring in full flower.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I aim to return soon.</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Stephanie</span><br />
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<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">ps I am in two minds about selling Fleur de Cerisier. If you would like to give her a home just leave me a comment or e-mail me. Thank you so much.</span></div>
millefeuilleshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14608950213999238191noreply@blogger.com38